Detecting controllers in vehicles using wearable devices

• US 10,620,232 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2016
• Issued: 04/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Tu, Xiaoyuan, Kandangath, Anil K., Howell, Adam S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rastovski, Catherine T.
• Application Number:
  US15/273,038
• Publication Number:
  US 20170082649A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 13/00 Indicating or recording presence, absence, or direction, of movement electric switches H01H; counting moving objects G06M7/00

Abstract

In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method, including determining, by a wearable device, receiving, by a wearable device, motion information from a motion sensor of the wearable device, determining, by the wearable device using the motion information, that a vehicle is turning, and determining, by the wearable device using the motion information when the vehicle is turning, that a user of the wearable device is controlling the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a wearable device, motion information from a motion sensor of the wearable device;

determining, by the wearable device using the motion information, that a vehicle is turning, the determining comprising;

determining an angular velocity of the wearable device;

estimating the angular velocity of the wearable device attributable to the vehicle; and

determining that the vehicle is turning in response to the estimated angular velocity exceeding a threshold value of angular velocity;

estimating a direction of gravity relative to the wearable device based on the motion information from the wearable device;

determining a turning axis of the vehicle based on the estimated direction of gravity and the motion information from the wearable device; and

in response to determining that the vehicle is turning, determining, by the wearable device using the motion information, that a user of the wearable device is controlling the vehicle by subtracting angular velocity of the vehicle due to the turning of the vehicle about the turning axis from the determined angular velocity of the wearable device and determining that a difference of the subtracting is greater than zero.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting operation of the wearable device while the user is determined to be controlling the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein adjusting the operation of the wearable device comprises reducing an amount of notifications routed to a display of the wearable device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein adjusting the operation of the wearable device comprises the wearable device ignoring a recognized gesture.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by a wearable device, motion information from a companion device;

estimating a direction of gravity relative to the companion device based on the motion information from the companion device;

determining a turning axis of the vehicle based on the estimated direction of gravity and the motion information from the wearable device; and

estimating the angular velocity of the vehicle wherein the angular velocity of the vehicle is used to determine that the vehicle is turning.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a direction of gravity relative to the wearable device is determine based at least in part on the direction of gravity relative to the companion device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that a user of the wearable device is controlling the vehicle comprises:

receiving, by a wearable device, motion information from a companion device;

estimating an angular velocity of the wearable device not attributable to the motion of vehicle based on the motion information from the wearable device and the motion information from the companion device; and

estimating a likelihood that the user is controlling the vehicle based on the estimated angular velocity of the wearable device not attributable to the motion of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating a direction of gravity relative to the wearable device is not performed when an angular velocity of the wearable device exceeds a first threshold.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that the user of the wearable device is controlling the vehicle is based at least in part on one or more of a noise level of the motion information, vehicle information received via a vehicle network bus, a sensor detecting a clenched hand of the user, or an angle of a limb of the user on which the wearable device is worn.

10. A wearable device comprising:

a motion sensor for obtaining motion information of a user of the wearable device; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the motion sensor, wherein the processor is configured to;

receive motion information from the motion sensor;

determine, using the motion information, that a vehicle is turning by;

determining an angular velocity of the wearable device;

estimating the angular velocity of the wearable device attributable to the vehicle; and

determining that the vehicle is turning in response to the estimated angular velocity exceeding a threshold value of angular velocity;

estimate a direction of gravity relative to the wearable device based on the motion information from the wearable device;

determine a turning axis of the vehicle based on the estimated direction of gravity and the motion information from the wearable device; and

in response to determining that the vehicle is turning, determine, using the motion information, that the user is controlling the vehicle by subtracting angular velocity of the vehicle due to the turning of the vehicle about the turning axis from the determined angular velocity of the wearable device and determining that a difference of the subtracting is greater than zero.

11. The wearable device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to adjust the operation of the wearable device while the user is determined to be controlling the vehicle.

12. The wearable device of claim 11, wherein adjusting the operation of the wearable device comprises reducing an amount of notifications routed to a display of the wearable device.

13. The wearable device of claim 11, wherein adjusting the operation of the wearable device comprises the wearable device ignoring a recognized gesture.

14. The wearable device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further communicatively coupled to a companion device and wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive motion information from the companion device;

estimate an angular velocity of the wearable device not attributable to the motion of vehicle based on the motion information from the wearable device and the motion information from the companion device; and

estimate a likelihood that the user is controlling the vehicle based on the estimated angular velocity of the wearable device not attributable to the motion of the vehicle, wherein the estimated likelihood that the user is controlling the vehicle is used to determine that the user of the wearable device is controlling the vehicle.

15. The wearable device of claim 10, wherein estimating a direction of gravity relative to the wearable device is not performed when an angular velocity of the wearable device exceeds a first threshold.

16. The wearable device of claim 10, wherein the processor is communicatively coupled to a companion device and wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive motion information from the companion device;

estimate a direction of gravity relative to the companion device based on the motion information from the companion device;

determine a turning axis of the vehicle based on the estimated direction of gravity and the motion information from the wearable device; and

estimate the angular velocity of the vehicle wherein the angular velocity of the vehicle is used to determine that the vehicle is turning.